Born 18 December 1943, Dartford, Kent, England. He temporarily dropped the "s" and adopted the professional name Keith Richard in 1963. A number of instances of this spelling are also the result of mis-types.
Children, with Patti Hansen , daughters Theodora Richards and Alexandra Richards.
Guitarist for The Rolling Stones. He takes about sixty guitars on each concert tour, including his favorite Fender and Gibson guitars.
Three children with former partner Anita Pallenberg : son Marlon (named after Marlon Brando ), daughter Angela (Dandelion) and son Tara (deceased).
Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 (as a member of The Rolling Stones ).
Was ordered to play a series of benefit concerts for the blind after a widely publicized drug arrest in Toronto in 1977. For these shows he assembled a band called The New Barbarians which included himself, fellow Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste. The Rolling Stones wound up playing the dates, as well.
Was a close friend of country legend Gram Parsons and has referenced to his early death due to drug abuse in one of the songs hes written for the Stones; "Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine/Well its another goodbye to another good friend" ("Before They Make Me Run", from 1978s "Some Girls"). He also played two tribute gigs to Parsons alongside Norah Jones and others in the summer of 2004.
Was voted the 10th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.
According to himself, he wrote the Rolling Stones biggest hit "(I Cant Get No) Satisfaction" while sleeping. He has stated that he went to bed with a tape recorder on the bedside table, and when he woke up the the tape was full with mumbling and half-singing, mixed up some snoring. True or false as this may be, it is widely thought that he did write the music and the legendary chorus by himself (Jagger likely only contributing the verse lyrics).
Johnny Depp has said that the character of Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is mostly based on Keith Richards, including his voice, his mannerisms, his personality, and aspects of his appearance. Keith would eventually play Jack Sparrows father, Captain Teague, in the second Pirates sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End .
Accompanies Aretha Frankin (a) on guitar in the theme song of the same titled movie Jumpin Jack Flash a remake of his own hit of the 60s with the Rolling Stones, which he also composed. Earlier in the film, the original song appears as well.
In the 1970s, he was once awake for nine days straight (with the assistance of various drugs). When he finally fell asleep, while standing up, he fell face-down into an amplifier, breaking his nose.
"Stole" former Stones member Brian Jones girlfriend Anita Pallenberg during a vacation in Morocco in the late 60s. Keith and Anitas love affair was no short crush, however, seeing as how they stayed together for roughly ten years and had three children (although one of them died just three weeks after birth).
He has worn a skull ring on the third finger of his right hand since the early 1970s, reminding himself "that we are all the same beneath the surface."
Hospitalized for a mild concussion he suffered while vacationing in Fiji, reportedly after falling out of a palm tree. Richards was flown to a New Zealand hospital for treatment, band spokeswoman Fran Curtis said in a statement. "Following treatment locally and as a precautionary measure, he flew to a hospital accompanied by his wife, Patti, for observation," Curtis said. (April 2006)
He allegedly declined the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to music.
In an article in New Musical Express (NME) he appeared to say that he had snorted his late fathers ashes in a line of cocaine: "He was cremated and I couldnt resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow." He later retracted the comment, saying that the story was "lost in translation".
Good friends with Johnny Depp.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.
Is the former neighbor, classmate and current best friend of Mick Jagger , who co-founded The Rolling Stones, alongside him.
Is an avid reader with a strong interest in History. He owns an extensive library.
Resides in Sussex, England and Weston, Connecticut.
Has a granddaughter named Ella Rose Richards (Marlons daughter with wife Lucie).
The 2009 Sunday Times List estimated his net worth at $287 million.
Owns one of the best and largest private collections of musical instruments including about a thousand guitars of various makes, of which he uses about sixty on each concert tour.
Release of his memoirs, "Life" by Keith with James Fox.
Stephen King is a big fan of Richards and claimed he could never play as well as him, no matter how hard he tried.
Is no fan of digital recordings saying that, "... when it comes to sound, the ones and the zeros dont quite make it".
In 1965 he bought a Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur (JLP 400D) that he named "Blue Lena" after one of his favorite American singers Lena Horne.
I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.
Puff Daddy is a piece of crap.
At the end of the Seventies, with the emergence of the punks, we were,denigrated as boring old farts. But it was a good kick in the butt.
When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.
Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.
I can’t imagine what other people think cold turkey is like. It is fucking awful. On the scale of things, it’s better than having your leg blown off in the trenches. It’s better than starving to death. But you don’t want to go there. The whole body just sort of turns itself inside out and rejects itself for three days. You know in three days it’s going to calm down. It’s going to be the longest three days you’ve spent in your life, and you wonder why you’re doing this to yourself when you could be living a perfectly normal fucking rich rock star life. And there you are puking and climbing walls. Why do you do that to yourself? I don’t know. I still don’t know. Your skin crawling, your guts churning, you can’t stop your limbs from jerking and moving about, and you’re throwing up and shitting at the same time, and shit’s coming out your nose and your eyes, and the first time that happens for real, that’s when a reasonable man says, “I’m hooked. ” But even that doesn’t stop a reasonable man from going back on it.
When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.
You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!,Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.
The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.
And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly. .
